Water and Nature

After a public voting at Green Week 2010 and the possibility of casting an online vote, a panel of expert judges determined the final winners of the first Aquawareness Photo Competition “Who cares … about water? Nature does!”: Oxana Salamaha (1st place), Conor Doherty (2nd place) and Eduardo Costa (3rd place) are the most talented amateur-photographers in terms of creativity and artistic realization of the title.

The photographic contest ran this summer, inviting young European talents aged between 18 and 25 to capture their understanding of the interlinkages between water and biodiversity in pictures. Youngsters from 16 European countries participated in the first Aquawareness Photo Competition.

Oxana Salamaha (18) from Chisinau, Moldova, is the lucky first prize winner for her photo “Bird&Wave”, depicting a brightly coloured bird almost covered by a wave. Dieter Telemans, freelance photographer and member of the panel, explains: ”It’s a powerful shot in which the power of water in the form of a wave is frozen next to beautiful wildlife.” Oxana wins a trip to Brussels and will attend the official Aquawareness Photo Competition award ceremony.

Conor Doherty (24) from Sligo, Ireland, won second place overall with his photo “It starts fresh”. He convinced the jury by the excellent interpretation of the title: ”Nature takes care of water itself and biodiversity – a perfect translation of the competition’s topic”, says panel member Lesha Witmer from the Women for Water Partnership. Eduardo Costa (25) from Cantanhede, Portugal, is the third placed overall winner. Panel member José Frade, Deputy Director Water and Environment Protection of the European Investment Bank, commented Eduardo’s picture titled “Ardea purpurea” as “an inspiring way of highlighting biodiversity sustained by water.”

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1st place: "Bird&Wave" by Oxana Salamaha from Moldova

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2nd place: "It Starts Fresh" by Conor Doherty from Ireland

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3rd place: "Ardea purpurea" by Eduardo Costa from Portugal

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The Aquawareness Photo Competition “Who cares … about water? Nature does” was sponsored and supported by